Tuscaloosa Prayer Network passing the torch

Friday

May 9, 2014 at 7:00 PMMay 9, 2014 at 7:24 PM

Like the captain of the storm-tossed ship who asked Jonah how could he sleep when a raging storm threatened to tear the ship apart, the people of the world are asking the Christian church how it can do nothing when people are hurting, sick, lost and dying. Eric Boykin, the mission strategist for the Tuscaloosa County Baptist Association, posed that question to about 100 local church pastors and ministers Thursday at a pastors' lunch held at Calvary Baptist Church.

By Jamon Smith | Staff Writer

Like the captain of the storm-tossed ship who asked Jonah how could he sleep when a raging storm threatened to tear the ship apart, the people of the world are asking the Christian church how it can do nothing when people are hurting, sick, lost and dying.Eric Boykin, the mission strategist for the Tuscaloosa County Baptist Association, posed that question to about 100 local church pastors and ministers Thursday at a pastors' lunch held at Calvary Baptist Church.The lunch was sponsored by the Tuscaloosa Prayer Network for two purposes: to pass the torch of leadership of the Hope Initiative from TPN Director William Scroggins to Boykin and to expand the mission of the Hope Initiative by asking local pastors to start sustainable outreach ministry in multihousing communities such as apartments, government housing and trailer parks.The Hope Initiative was created by Mayor Walter Maddox more than three years ago. It's a partnership between the city government and Christian leaders to bring peace and safety to high-crime neighborhoods.Boykin moved to Tuscaloosa from Texas six months ago with the intention of mobilizing Christians across racial and denominational lines to minister together in multihousing areas. Scroggins said Boykin's passion and vision for Tuscaloosa's Christian community is a perfect fit for the Hope Initiative, and he said he's glad to turn its leadership over to him.“I have met with Eric over the past several months, and it seems to me that he will be able to lead us to a greater level of effectiveness in these neighborhoods,” Scroggins said in a written statement. “Eric and I met with Mayor Maddox, and he was in agreement with Eric's vision to expand the Hope Initiative into apartment complexes across the county, as well as the city of Tuscaloosa.“We are delighted that God brought Eric and his family to our community, and we look forward to working together with him as we trust God to bring spiritual renewal in our area.”Boykin said, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, 57 percent of the U.S. population lives in multihousing communities. In Tuscaloosa, more than 65 percent of the city's population lives in multi-housing communities, and for the past three years that number has grown by more than 500 units annually, he said.The growth wouldn't be a problem if it weren't for the fact that only about 5 percent of people living in them attend church, he said.“In the state of Alabama, about half the people who live in single-family homes go to some kind of church,” Boykin said. “But if you cross the street into the apartment community, that number plummets down from 50 percent to 5 percent. So all of our churches are 10-to-1 more single-family homes than they are apartment communities. What that means is there is an enormous demographic of our population that's missing the mark.”Boykin said USA Today reported in October 2012 that for the first time in U.S. history, the majority of citizens are not Protestant Christians. But not only are people not becoming Protestants, they're not becoming Catholics, they're not becoming Mormons and they're not becoming Jehovah's Witnesses. Religiously, they're not affiliating with anything. They're called “the nones,” and they're the fastest growing religious demographic in the U.S.“No. 1, this isn't a Baptist problem or a Methodist problem,” Boykin said. “This isn't a black problem or a white problem. None of us are really reaching these people, are we? None of us are really knocking it out of the park reaching people in our inner cities, in low-income areas and in multi-housing communities.”“If Jesus was here today, I believe he'd be at these communities,” he said. “I really believe that. When I read the Scriptures, what did Jesus say?”Boykin read Matthew 9:13 from the Bible: “Then He added, 'Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices. For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.' ”He said he believed Jesus came to help the hurting, to love the fallen and to give to the poor. He said if Christian churches really want to carry out the ministry of Christ, they have to get out of their comfort zones and go to the places where people are hurting the most. They must put aside their minuscule differences, he said, and carry out the work of the cross together.“Rest assured that if we represent the Kingdom of God, it's not going to hurt our individual churches. We can represent the Kingdom of God together. Maybe, maybe, we've lost our influence in our world because we've lost our fellowship in our churches.“It's the Gospel that resurrects a community.”

Reach Jamon Smith at jamon.smith@tuscaloosanews.com or 205-722-0204.

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